Wonderworks

'Find one polymath. Take a profound knowledge of world literature. Add a deep knowledge of neuroscience. Stir in an enchanting prose style. This is Angus Fletcher's Wonderworks. A marvellous treat' - Martin Seligman, New York Times bestselling author of Authentic Happiness 'Fletcher endorses storytelling as a foundational technology but he goes beyond that to illustrate its therapeutic value and centrality to cultural invention' - Antonio Damasio, Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California 'Wonderworks is an extraordinary book, which makes a passionate, compelling and engaging case for the value of literature' - Raphael Lyne, Professor of Renaissance Literature, University of Cambridge 'An intelligent, engaged and erudite attempt to neurologically tackle not just some abstract and simplified story , but some of the world's greatest narratives, from the Iliad to Dream of the Red Chamber, from Disney's Up to the novels of Elena Ferrante. It speaks to the inner reader in us all, as well as to the inner neurologist' - Simon Ings, New Scientist 'Perky and often amusing... Fletcher is a kind of Jeeves, leading us around the castle of literature in a respectful but knowing manner ... Fletcher makes a convincing argument that using even the saddest books to experience new feelings and to learn from them is the way forward for both writers and readers' - Jane Smiley, Guardian 'Explains how different kinds of stories can variously alleviate the whole gamut of emotions' Tom Bawden, iPaper 'Breathtaking... delightful and eminently readable... a spectacular work' - Dr. Keith Mankin, Los Angeles Review of Books 'Entirely convincing ... immensely important ... a fantastic tour through the world's literature, an explanation of how it works as a technology, and a scientific discussion that opens the lid on our complex brains, tying it all to our most ancient and cherished activity: reading stories ... Fletcher speaks outside the academy, as the anti-literary critic, whose purpose is to rescue literature from the spate of theories intended to bring it to heel ... Wonderworks is itself an innovation, and, admirably, perhaps the best kind of medicine for our modern troubled times' - Erik Larson, bestselling author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence in Los Angeles Review of Books